Big hitting gets bigger in Auckland

[fastball]

Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2006 13:23:25 +1300 
From: Vance <vance at vanf-graphics.co.nz> 
Subject: Big hitting gets bigger in Auckland 



Big hitting gets bigger in Auckland - From Trevor Rowse
11 February 2006

   Marist officials moved the number one diamond fence in to
the women’s limit, making the number two field fence even further
away from the batters, but that did not worry national captain
Fiona Timu at the Doreen Hutchings’ Memorial tournament at Penrose’s
Simson Park.
   The evergreen pitcher-fielder-batter slammed a pitch over
the fence from the number two batters’ box to amaze even her
greatest fans and put Marist on track for a great 4-3 tiebreaker
win against Mike Walsh’s national champion Te Aroha side. The
Hutt Valley champion was three runs ahead at one stage but there
was a big rally and Marist finally won in the tiebreaker.
    Then Waitakere Bears, the colourful but youthful side from
the west, slammed into Te Aroha for a 2-0 win which kept everyone
enthralled as Te Aroha attacked and attacked but the defence
held firm.
   The champion side, winner of the last two Hutchings’ series
at Marist, fought back to win two of the four games to stay in
contention with Marist taking four from four and Bears two from
three.
Doreen Hutchings Memorial series.

Te Aroha 7 Papatoetoe 0, Marist 3 Waitakere Bears 2 tiebreaker,
Northcote 10 Papatoetoe 3, Te Aroha 12 Melville 0, Marist 2 Northcote
1 (TB), Bears 2 Te Aroha 0, Papatoetoe 3 Melville 2 (TB), Marist
4 Te Aroha 3 (TB), Bears 6 Northcote 5 (TB), Marist 2 Melville
0.

Sunday: Semi-finals at 12.30 and final at 3pm.

Auckland Regional men’s series:
   Last weekend the batters hit home runs all over Simson Reserve
in the annual Brother Patrick event, won by Metro after two wonderful
wins over the Japan national team.
   The home run splurge continued yesterday at Metro’s Phyllis
Street as the home team’s batters continued their winning form.
It was a day to remember for many reasons.
   Metro beat Howick 8-4 and Waitakere Bears 10-2 with ten home
runs responsible for most of the scoring. While pitcher Steven
Tau threw both games, his batters gave him immense support, starting
with Mike Fenton’s lead-off homer in the first against Howick.
He also hit one against Bears.
   But he was overshadowed by a massive batting assault by team
mate Taifau Matai who has had some wonderful days in thirteen
year international career when he burst on to the international
scene is his first representative year in 1993.
   He went to bat eight times, hitting safe crisp drives each
time before Bears walked him in the eighth turn to make it a
career day to remember. His last hit was one of the longest of
his career and ranks with the biggest ever seen in the city.
   Another veteran to star was Howick player-coach Lance Croawell
who had his greatest days, for metro, twenty years ago. Still
fit, he took his place and hit over the fence to be the oldest
to do so in premier play at 50 years old. He hit again in the
match and his son Ryan shared the spotlight with a fence-defying
catch to save a three-run homer.
   Duane Jerard, a constant big hitter, also hit a giant home
run for Metro with Dion Nukunuku, Garth Pollard, Mike Niu, Mathew
Utatao and Josh Niu also ramming home runs.
 
Metro v Newcastle Homes Howick.
   Tau struck out the first four Howick batters while Fenton
hit the homer to give him a lead. Pollard and Utatao made life
hard for stand-in pitcher Paddy O’Neill, a real club man who
crossed town to make sure that his team survived until regular
pitcher Brian Stephens arrived from work.
   Pollard walked and Utatao hit over centre field for 3-0. Nukunuku
and Matai also hit on to base but were left stranded.
   Then it was Lance Croawell’s turn. He was an outfield star
in the Metro side of twenty years ago and still looks as fit
at fifty. He led off the third with his homer and the team sparked
up, going into the lead at 5-4 in the fourth when Trevor King
hit over, Cameron Howell walked and Donyin Lin forced an error
to let them both home.
   Metro tied at 4-4 when Pollard hit over and the game slipped
away when Matai, Jerard and Michael Niu hit safely in the fifth,
followed by a Pollard double which scored two.
   Fenton was hit by a pitch in the sixth, stole second, went
to third on a passed ball and scored on Matai’s fourth hit of
the game. 
   Michael Niu was the unlucky one, hitting a shot which was
just looping over the right field fence, with two out and two
runners galloping home, only to see Ryan Croawell race to the
spot, collide with the fence and still snatch the ball for the
final Metro out. 
   But the side was jubilant, split into two halves with derogatory
names for each other, competing with the other half for hits
and runs.
 
Metro 10 Waitakere Bears 2.
   In the opening stages there was little hint that the Metro
form would continue. Nukunuku and Matai hit safely to be on third
and second but Bears’ pitcher Kyle Kouka started a string of
six successive strikeouts and it seemed as if the batting magic
had gone with the gentle wind which was behind the batters.
   Bears’ catcher Paddy Shannon started with a ground rule double
in the first and Gerrard Long ended up tagged at third in the
second turn and the sides were level.
   With one struck out in the third, Metro went into home run
overdrive again. Fenton repeated his feat of the first game and
Nukunuku, the holder of four gold medals from world championships,
did the same in the next slot. 2-0 and the game changed.
   But it was not immediately as Bears hit back with Victory
Niu hitting over left field and the next batter going out. Up
came Travis Miller, a hero for the side in recent weeks, and
he planted one over centre field for 2-2. Game on again.
   Josh Niu edged Metro ahead with a home run in the fourth and
it was like a fantasy game, home run after home run.
   In the fifth it was a single by Nukunuku to start the action
on the bases and up stepped the amazing Matai for his seventh
bat of the afternoon, the first six being fine unstoppable shots
for three doubles and three singles, and ironically no runs batted
in, scoring only once himself.
   That changed. With fans wondering if the flow would stop,
Matai hit the biggest of the season, and perhaps one of the biggest
of all time, for two runs and Metro was really in the lead at
5-2. 
   Tau, well into his second game, had a second wind and was
in fine form again. So were his batters, with Utatao hitting
a blooper shot into right and racing to second. There was fielding
confusion after that with Patrick Langlois causing problems on
the basepath, before going out while Utatao scored.
   Then Josh Cooke, on base on the fielder’s choice, scored with
Matai walked. Jerard hit a huge shot over centre field for two
runs and Michael Niu, not to be out-done, followed with another
towering shot, both from Long’s pitching, and what had been a
close match ended in total domination. It was easy to forget
the Bears’ fight, just as Howick had done.
   So Metro, so powerful, was also vulnerable. However the batting
efforts rival those of the legendary Poneke-Kilbirnie sides of
the nineties and early 21st century and this team does not play
about. The fences are there to be challenged.
   It was a great afternoon at the ballpark and deserved a bigger
crowd. Matai and his boys, plus Lance Croawell with his two hits,
were worthy warriors.
Men: Metro 8 Howick 4, Metro 10 Waitakere Bears 2, Mt Albert
Ramblers 10 Otahuhu 1.
 


http://www.softball.org.nz/ 
* Email: snz(at)softball.org.nz 

Cheers Vance 
Softball New Zealand web master.
* Email: vance(at)vanf-graphics.co.nz 

 Als Fastball List
*Email: fastball(at)pmihrm.com
   fastball at pmihrm.com
http://www.AlsFastball.com/
NEWS: http://fastpitchwest.com/alsfastball